Marketing

5 Ways to Increase Your Market Share

Fri, 14 Feb 2020 09:00:00 GMT

In 2007, Apple introduced the iPhone . The cell phone boasted a full touch screen, a slew of personalization options, and internet capabilities. These features were rare in the phone market before the iPhone, and having them all on one device was especially enticing.

Because of these innovative features, Apple built a reputation and loyal fan base in the first year of the iPhone's release, earning the company a 3% market share .

Today, Apple has a 50% market share in the mobile phone industry. This means that half of phone owners globally own an iPhone.

As a business, knowing your market share tells you how you stack up against competitors. Ultimately, Apple needed to know its market share back in 2007, and continue to innovate and grow, to become a leader in the market today.

When we talk about raising market share, we're talking about making informed marketing decisions that contribute to overall sales and customer retention. Here, let's explore what it means to increase market share, and how you can do that, today.

What does it mean to increase market share?

To increase market share means increasing the effort you put into sales as a business, and using new or additional strategies to help you get there.

Market share is the percent of total sales in an industry generated by a particular company.

Simply put, market share is calculated by taking the company’s sales over a certain period of time, and dividing it by the total sales of the industry over that same period.

Basically, market share is how much you make as a company in the industry, and how that stacks up against others. So, to increase your market share, you need to make more sales than your competitors to increase your share in the industry.

Which is, of course, much easier said than done. How does one go about increasing market share? Let's dive into that, next.

1. Find your niche and stick with it.

Your company should have a few characteristics that set it apart from the competition. For example, Apple's logo and sleek design is seen on Apple's entire suite of products.

Having that distinguishing brand characteristic — such as the Apple logo — enables people to more easily identify your company's products across a line of similar-looking items. If your company is able to create a recognizable brand identity, while also producing higher-quality products or services than the competition (or products or services that serve a niche market), you'll have a better chance of finding a larger piece of market share to capture.

For instance, I don't know much about makeup, but I know a NARS blush when I see one because the design and logo of their products are so unique to the brand, and the quality of NARS products is undeniably good:

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This strategy increases market share for a business that has found success with a previous launch. If a consumer sees your mark on a product, they will know what they're getting, which informs their purchase decision.

As a marketer, you also want to consider which marketing materials can help you increase market share. For instance, do you have a popular eBook or YouTube series? Continue to work with those avenues more frequently to expand the reach those products get.

2. Innovate as society does.

Sony's PlayStation owns 68% of the home console market share . Since 1994, Sony has been finding ways to innovate and update their video game consoles faster than their competition. These innovations are necessary to stay current in the industry and increase market share.

For reference, here is a 1994 PlayStation console:

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And a 2014 PlayStation 4:

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While some design elements have stayed the same, such as the logo and base system design, upgrades have been applied to match the times.

Take, for instance, the controller. They're both similar, but while the PS4 controller is wireless, has a power button, and battery life, PS1 controllers don't. PS1 power buttons are large and can be found on the side of the console, whereas much smaller PS4 power buttons can be found on the controller and on the console itself.

This is because as more advancements have been made in the gaming industry, Sony has adapted accordingly. The company has a keen eye on what gamers want as years pass, earning them a high market share.

If you fail to innovate in a way that's reflected on the times, your business may fall behind and be forgotten. ( RIP, outdated Aatari consoles ).

3. Engage with customers.

Customers know what they want to see, so one way businesses can increase their market share is by asking them.

A carefully crafted survey sent out to loyal customers with questions about design, updates, and features can help you visualize tangible ways to improve your product or service, and in turn, increase your market share.

You don't have to only use surveys, either. Engaging with customers on social media, such as in an Instagram story, works as well. Skincare company Glossier does this effectively:

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Going to the source to ask what customers will spend their money on is a good campaign strategy for increasing market share. It's a low-cost way to conduct market research and learn more about your place in the industry based on consumer perception.

4. Think about an acquisition.

You can increase market share through the acquisition of a company that aligns well with your own products or services. This requires a bit of research, but will ultimately end up in potentially gaining a larger market share.

Companies usually acquire companies to gain a larger market share or expand their suite of products. For example, Microsoft owns LinkedIn and GitHub . While the former (LinkedIn) can lead to an increase in market share among social media revenue, the latter (GitHub) can lead to an increase in market share among Cloud OS revenue.

Acquiring a competitor involves choosing the right company — one that will be a positive addition to your suite of products or services.

5. Continue to delight customers.

Netflix is no stranger to creating loyal customers. The platform is constantly adding more original shows and tightening its algorithm to cater to its customers. This constant refining of the platform led to a 2014 report that Netflix had a 90% market share in the streaming service market.

Having such a large market share due to these updates has helped Netflix even as more streaming services have entered the market. Customers have found themselves not wanting to cancel their Netflix subscriptions because they've found such deep value in it.

In short, Netflix makes its customers happy. I know I'm certainly happy when I can turn on the Netflix app and see most of my favorites displayed without needing to scroll further.

Netflix positioned itself as a leader in the industry. Don't wait for customers to come to you for ideas — think ahead, not just of what they need, but what they'll want as customer buying experience changes overtime.

In 2007, Apple completely revolutionized mobile phones and tripled their market share in a year. 13 years later, Apple is still a leader in the mobile phone market because of the ways they constantly improve their product and create loyal customers.

By looking at your market share and finding ways to increase it, you'll find greater customer retention and a more stable position in your industry.

The 10 Best Keyword Research Tools to Find the Right Keywords for SEO

Thu, 13 Feb 2020 13:00:00 GMT

Let's get right down to it: The key to successful SEO is concentrating on long-tail keywords.

Although these keywords get less traffic than more generic terms, they're associated with more qualified traffic and users that are typically further down their path of intent.

The good news is that choosing the right long-tail keywords for your website pages is actually a fairly simple process -- one that's made all the more simple and quick when you use the right tools to perform your keyword research.

Download our free SEO template here to organize your keyword research into an actionable plan for your site.

In this post, we'll cover the nine best tools out there for performing keyword research for your website content. Before we get started though, let's briefly go over two important things to consider as you do your research : relevance and (if applicable) location.

Keyword Relevance

Relevance is the most important factor to consider when choosing the right keywords for SEO. Why? Because the more specific you are, the better.

For instance, if you own a company that installs swimming pools, it's likely that you'd attract more qualified prospects by targeting a keyword such as "fiberglass in-ground pool installation," rather than "swimming pools." That's because there's a good chance that someone searching for "fiberglass in-ground pool installation" is looking for information on installation or someone to perform the installation ... and that could be you!

Sure, optimizing for "swimming pools" has its place. But there's no doubt that this keyword will attract a much more generic audience that may not be looking for what you have to offer. Go for the relevant, long-tail keywords instead.

Location-Based Keywords

Another major factor to consider when optimizing for the right keywords is location-based searches . When looking for contractors and services in their specific area, search engine users will usually include their location in the search. So, "fiberglass in-ground pool installation" becomes "fiberglass in-ground pool installation in Boston, MA."

If you operate in one geo-location, you may want to consider adding location-based keywords to all of your pages, since traffic from other locations isn't going to be very much help to you. If your business operates in several geo-locations, it is also a wise choice to create a separate web page dedicated to each location so you can make sure your brand is present when people are searching for individual locations.

Now, how do you choose the right keywords for your business? We certainly don't recommend guessing, for obvious reasons. Instead, there are many ways to research and find long-tail keywords that are right for your business.

Here are nine awesome free and paid keyword research tools you can use to quickly and easily identify strong long-tail keywords for your SEO campaign.

Free Keyword Research Tools

1. Google Keyword Planner

Google has a few tools that make it easy to conduct keyword research, and their free AdWords tool called Keyword Planner is a great place to start -- especially if you use AdWords for some of your campaigns. (Note: You'll need to set up an AdWords account to use Keyword Planner, but that doesn't mean you have to create an ad.)

When you input one keyword, multiple keywords, or even your website address into Keyword Planner, Google will spit out a list of related keywords along with simple metrics to gauge how fierce the competition is around each one and how many searches it gets on both a global and local search level.

It'll also show you historical statistics and information on how a list of keywords might perform -- and it'll create a new keyword list by multiplying several lists of keywords together. Since it's a free AdWords tool, it can also help you choose competitive bids and budgets to use with your AdWords campaigns.

Image Credit: Google

Unfortunately, when Google transitioned from Keyword Tool to Keyword Planner, they stripped out a lot of the more interesting functionality -- but you can make up for it somewhat if you take the information you learn from Keyword Planner and use Google Trends to fill in some blanks.

Which brings me to the next tool ...

2. Google Trends

Google Trends is another free tool from Google. It lets you enter multiple keywords and filter by location, search history, and category. Once you enter that information in, it'll give you results that show how much web interest there is around a particular keyword, what caused the interest (e.g., press coverage), and where the traffic is coming from -- along with similar keywords.

The best part about Google Trends is that it doesn't just give you static keyword volume numbers like most keyword research tools. Instead, it generates colorful, interactive graphs that you can play with, download, and even embed on your website. It'll also give you more dynamic insight into a keyword with information like relative popularity of a search term over time.

Interestingly, its data doesn't include in repeated queries from a single user over a short period of time, which makes results cleaner. It also groups together searches that it infers to mean the same thing, like misspellings .

One way to use Google Trends? If you're trying to decide between two keyword variations for your latest blog post title. Simply perform a quick comparison search in Google Trends to see which one is getting searched more often.

3. Keyword Tool.io

Keyword Tool is pretty rudimentary online keyword research tool, but if you're just looking for a list of long-tail keyword suggestions related to one you already have in mind, then it can be useful. It's also totally free -- to use the most basic version, you don't even need to create an account.

What Keyword Tool does is use Google Autocomplete to generate a list of relevant long-tail keywords suggestions. The search terms suggested by Google Autocomplete are based on a few different factors, like how often users were searching for a particular term in the past.

This type of suggestion tool can help you understand what people are searching for around your topics. For example, bloggers might use a tool like this to brainstorm blog post titles that'll do well in search .

Again, all the free version does for you is generate other keyword suggestions in alphabetical order -- it doesn't tell you anything about search volume or cost-per-click (CPC). To get that information, you'll have to upgrade to Keyword Tool Pro . The Pro version will also let you export the keywords and use them for content creation, search engine optimization, CPC/PPC, or other marketing activities.

Best Keyword Research Tools

Paid Keyword Research Tools

4. Term Explorer

Price: $34/mo. for Basic; $97/mo. for Pro; $499/mo. for Agency

Term Explorer offers probably the deepest research reports of any keyword research tool on the market. From one single seed term, you can get over 10,000 keyword variations.

Best of all, the tool does a great job of keeping the results as relevant as possible and pulling through lots of supporting metrics with them.

It'll give you data for all the results on page one of search engine results pages (SERPs), including the number of results, link strength, trust score, and keyword difficulty. To help you get a handle on your competitors, you can use the tool to research domain age, page ranking, and links, as well as the word count, page rank, links, outbound links, and the number of keyword occurrences in title, URL, and headers for individual webpages. You can also export all this data into a CSV for your own analysis.

Image Credit: Term Explorer

Note: If you only plan on using it a few times a day, there is actually a free version of this tool that'll do five tiny keyword jobs and five keyword analyses per day, with no queue priority.

5. Moz's Keyword Difficulty Tool

Price: $99/mo. for Standard; $149/mo. for Medium; $249/mo. for Large; $599/mo. for Premium

The keyword difficulty tool from Moz is one of the most useful components of their paid suite. It's a fantastic resource for analyzing the competitiveness of a keyword and for unearthing low-hanging fruit.

When you input a keyword into this tool, it'll find the top 10 rankings for that keyword. Then, it'll assign that keyword a "Difficulty Score" based on the pages that currently rank for that word. You can look at search volume data for your keywords, then pull up the SERP to see the top 10 results for each term.

Image Credit: Moz

Want to do some competitive keyword analysis? You can use the tool to see who else is ranking for your targeted keywords, along with information like each site's page authority and the number of root domains linking to their page.

You can also export all this data into a CSV for your own analysis.

6. SEMrush

Price: $69.95/mo. for Pro; $149.95/mo. for Guru; $549.95/mo. for Business

SEMrush is a competitive research tool that lets you keep an eye on on your competitors' keywords to find opportunities to bump them out for a top position in Google's and Bing's organic search results. You can compare a number of domains against one another to evaluate the competitive landscape, including their common keywords and positions in Google's organic, paid, and shopping search results.

Position tracking is kind of like a sophisticated version of Google Trends, letting you see a keyword's position in SERPs and analyze the history of rises and drops. Their colorful, visual charts are also super helpful for more quickly understanding trends and analyzing results.

Image Credit: SEMrush

7. Ahrefs

Price: $99/mo. for Lite; $179/mo. for Standard; $399/mo. for Advanced

Ahrefs Keywords Explorer is similar to SEMrush, but with some extra bonuses and a much more intuitive design.

For example, it’s able to estimate how many searches become real page visits. Not all of them do so, since Google gives instant answers for some queries. With Clicks and Clicks Per Search metrics, you’ll figure out traffic-generating keywords and skip dead-end options.

When it comes to the number of relevant keyword suggestions, Ahrefs goes the extra mile. It runs the biggest database – 5.1 billion keywords for over 200 countries – which means it can detect opportunities other tools could be missing.

Ahrefs can also help you with competitive research. Their Site Explorer tool lifts the veil on competitors' keyword strategies, while Content Gap lets you compare competitor keywords with your own to identify your might-have-beens.

Ahrefs will also email you about even the smallest ranking progress of your competitors. Backlinks have a direct impacton ranking, and backlink research is one of Ahrefs’ strongest muscles.

Brian Dean, founder of Backlinko, say that Ahrefs is his #1 go-to tool for backlink analysis: "I've tested over 25 link analysis tools and none come close to Ahref's in terms of index size, freshness, and overall usability."

8. Accuranker

Price: $19.95/mo. for Beginner; $29.95/mo. for Pro 300; $44.95/mo. for Pro 600; $74.95/mo. for Pro 1K

Accuranker is a keyword rank tracking tool with a key differentiator: It's lightning fast while being extremely precise. So if you're used to spending hours monitoring the rank progression of your keywords, this'll end up saving you a ton of time.

Other advantages of this tool? It has built-in proxies to get a quick glance at whose ranking within the SERPs for any given keyword. If you plan to report keyword metrics to your manager or your team, you'll like its scheduled weekly reports feature.

Image Credit: Accuranker

It's also one of the best rank trackers out there that offers highly localized search engine rankings for your keywords. So if you're marketing your business to an international audience, it's a great tool for analyzing which pages are ranking in different countries.

Finally, it has integrations available with Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Social Monitoring, and YouTube so you can keep an eye on statistics and estimated search traffic for your keywords straight from your AccuRanker dashboard.

9. HubSpot

HubSpot also has its very own Content Strategy tool within the Marketing Hub. The Content Strategy tool helps you identify and research topics, find keywords or subtopics to go after, and ultimately help grow your content presence for generating more organic traffic over time.

If you're a HubSpot customer, you can access the Content Strategy tool, click on Content > Strategy.

10. Serpstat

Price: $69/mo. for Lite, $149/mo. for Standard, $299/mo. for Advanced, $499/mo. for Enterprise

Serpstat provides you with a list of historically profitable keywords used by competitors to make them rank high in search results. It also figures the value of your keywords using different factors, like number of search results and cost-per-click.

The software will offer suggestions for more suggestive keywords as well as provide long-tail keywords, which are low-volume keywords related to your business. Plus, if your business is international, you can adapt keywords to different countries in the tool's database.

Finally, with Serpstat, you can check the relevancy of your webpages and analyze the trends that might be attractive to browsers.

Serpstat will be extremely useful to you if you want full analyses of keywords that work well for competitors. It's also a great tool for making sure your page has a lower chance of losing a favorable ranking on SERPs.

Now that you know about all these great tools, get out there and start discovering your best keywords for SEO.

What tools and methods do you use to find long-tail keywords? Share your favorites with us in the comments below.

How to Rise Above Marketing Mediocrity, According to Ann Handley

Thu, 13 Feb 2020 12:00:00 GMT

Ann Handley is a Wall Street Journal bestselling author, and has been named by IBM as one of the seven people shaping modern marketing .

She's also the world's first Chief Content Officer, and is a LinkedIn influencer with almost 400K followers.

Needless to say, I was thrilled when she agreed to speak with me about the current and future trends in marketing at the 2019 Conex in Toronto .

Along with marketing trends, we also talked about new approaches marketers can use to solve old problems. Because, while much has changed in marketing over the last few years, one thing remains consistent — businesses still need to connect with their audiences.

Here, let's explore Ann Handley's take on pathological empathy, "snackable" content, and rising above marketing mediocrity.

Have Pathological Empathy For Your Consumer

One of the key concepts Handley has pioneered is "pathological empathy."

Rather than simply segmenting customers by their behaviors or demographics and trying to appeal to them on those grounds, Handley wants marketers to get under their skin: "When I say pathological, I mean really understanding, sort of getting inside their skin … to get a sense of who are they and how can you best engage with them emotionally."

Ultimately, engaging with a consumer on an emotional level is one of the most sure-fire ways to guarantee a successful marketing campaign. (I dare you to watch Android's "Friends Furever" video, the most-shared video ad of 2015 , without tearing up.)

This next-level empathy opens the door to a new approach to content creation. Handley poses the question this way — "How do we create the kind of marketing content, assets, campaigns that will actually touch their hearts … and maybe open their minds?"

Slow Down

In order to build pathological empathy, you need time. However, in a fast-paced marketing environment where everything moves at the speed of light, time is the most precious and limited commodity.

Counterintuitively, this only proves Handley's point:

Handley says that by slowing down the marketing process at these strategic moments, marketers can better execute on building relationships and converting leads.

"I think what we're missing is that opportunity to say, 'All right, what are the moments where we really need to think more strategically? Where should we slow down to fuel faster growth later?'"

Speak to Your Audience as Peer-to-Peer, Not Brand-to-Target

In addition to slowing down the marketing process at critical points, Handley suggests that marketers speak to their audiences from a peer-to-peer perspective, as opposed to brand-to-target.

While marketers instinctively want to talk about what sets their brand and products apart, that's not a message that can connect with customers.

Handley told me, "We love our products and services and we understand on an implicit basis what value they bring to your customers or your prospects. But I think that we don't always communicate that as effectively as we could. We're not always leading with our hearts. We're not always touching people in a way that will engage them emotionally."

Next time you're constructing a web page or writing landing page copy, you might ask yourself — Would I, and my colleagues, like it designed this way? Would we keep reading? Would we click the link?

Of course, you'll want to A/B test and use focus groups to ensure you're meeting your audience's needs, but it doesn't hurt to consider your own opinions and interests, or the opinions and interests of friends and family, when creating and promoting marketing materials.

Be a Resource for Your Audience

Handley told me marketers should be a resource to their prospects and offer them value. Part of this shift requires connecting with customers personally. You might try social media, but alternatively, consider putting a twist on an old marketing stand-by — the email newsletter .

As Handley says, "Newsletters are vastly undervalued and they're a huge opportunity that we're not doing well."

Handley mentioned that, unfortunately, most marketers tend to focus on the "news" aspect of a newsletter, and forget the "letter" part of the equation.

The "news" aspect means marketers use their newsletters as a distribution strategy and focus on providing updates about their own brand — but they fail to use the "letter" portion to engage with and connect to their audience.

Handley notes that when writing newsletters, marketers tend to speak in the plural, but their audience is one person at home or on their phone. Handley says that by simply writing their newsletters as if they are talking to one person, marketers can go a long way toward building that personal connection.

Handley says, "The person who was sitting on the other end of that email … It's one person. They're not sitting there with a thousand other people. So why do we communicate to a thousand people? That's because we're still thinking about it as news and not as a letter."

Don't Create "Snackable" Content

Video is another area where marketers are misreading the situation and losing out on chances to meaningfully connect with consumers. Handley pushes back on the notion of "snackable content," and the idea that consumers are demanding it more.

Rather, Handley thinks that this demand for shorter content was always there but never supplied.

She told me, "I don't think they want shorter and shorter and shorter. They don't want lighter and more snackable … The way that we as consumers are consuming content has been to think about the value that it gives us."

Handley cites Netflix as a prime counterexample that disproves the idea that consumer attention spans are getting shorter, or that "snackable" content is king.

"In a world of snackable, why does somebody sit down for hours at a time to watch the last season of Stranger Things ? It's because we want to — we want it on our terms, number one. But secondly, we have all the attention span in the world if it's something that we care about."

Handley doesn't think viewers' attention spans are getting shorter or that they are seeking out shorter content. Instead, viewers are just more discerning about what content they consume.

That suggests marketers shouldn't shy away from longer video pieces, as long as these videos are about something that can connect with their target audience.

Rise Above "Marketing Mediocrity"

Businesses that fail to connect with customers fall into what Handley terms "marketing mediocrity." Handley says it's critical for businesses to rise above it. But how does a business know if their marketing is mediocre?

"If people are not interested in you, if they are not here for you, if they are not thinking, 'I can't wait to see what they come out with next,' then that's a problem."

Handley says marketers should ask themselves what would happen if they went away.

How would your email list react?

Would any of your audience members write your team to ask where you went?

Handley relates a personal story about her bi-weekly newsletter to drive the point home: "I usually mail Sunday mornings and I had a busy week … [s]o I didn't mail until Sunday afternoon at four o'clock. And I got so many emails from people saying, are you okay? What happened? And so that to me was, it wasn't just personally gratifying. [T]he big lesson there is … if you didn't show up, would people say, 'Hey, what happened?'"

Do Less and Obsess

In 2020, there are innumerable changes happening in the world of marketing. I asked Handley what her single most important piece of advice to marketers would be, and she told me, "do less and obsess."

Handley also has some thoughts about content calendars. Handley suggests that marketers "do less that has more impact" rather than strictly abiding by a content calendar.

"I think content calendars are amazing … I'm just saying, don't let it run your strategy."

In the Future, a Customer's Experience Will Dictate Your Strategy

Finally, I asked Handley if she has any ideas on how we'll be consuming content 10 years from now. While she thinks video is here to stay, she rejects the idea that the word is dead.

"I hate binary choices like that. It's not a matter of words or images. It's both. To your question, what does this mean for us five years from now? think it's a better integration and, and perhaps more interactivity."

Handley's seemingly counterintuitive advice is based on marketing fundamentals, some of which today's marketers might be forgetting as they become more enmeshed with new technologies.

It's easy to get caught up in current trends, but knowing your target audience and creating an experience they can truly enjoy remains the paramount goal of marketers. By taking a step back from today's hot new marketing trend, we can get a better sense of how to use new technologies and strategies to deliver a valuable experience to our customers.

7 Email Cadence Best Practices for Better Email Marketing Campaigns

Wed, 12 Feb 2020 13:00:00 GMT

By 2022, an estimated 330 billion emails will be sent and received each day — making it one of the largest digital communication channels.

Emails can include everything from details about pressing, work-related crises to e-cards from your aunt on random holidays like Arbor Day.

But email’s practical use extends beyond the personal — it can also be one of the most effective ways for businesses to convert leads into buyers. An email campaign is an effective strategy for turning a prospect’s interest into hard sales.

These campaigns can be massive assets, but they shouldn’t be structured arbitrarily. In all likelihood, you can’t send single, catch-all email blasts to your contacts whenever you feel like and expect your prospects and customers to be receptive to them. There’s much more to the email campaign process than drafting up an email and hitting send.

One of the most crucial components of the email campaign process is email cadence: the pulse, pace, and playbook of a successful email campaign. Let’s take a deeper dive into what an email cadence is and establish the fundamental principles of structuring a successful one.

The success of an email campaign can hinge upon the effectiveness of its cadence. If you can get the right emails to the right customers at the right time, you can get a lot of mileage out of your email marketing efforts.

That being said, if your cadence is too intrusive, obnoxious, or directionless, you can lose out on opportunities to guide leads through their buyers’ journeys. If potential customers feel pestered or confused by constant, irrelevant newsletters and promotions, they probably won’t stick around to hear what you have to say.

Here are some best practices to employ to ensure your next campaign’s email cadence is the best it can be.

1. Understand your goals.

What do you want out of your email cadence? You need to understand where you’re trying to lead your prospects and customers. Are you looking to improve traffic to your blog? Drive ecommerce sales? Schedule meetings? Close deals?

An email cadence is designed to guide buyers from point A to point B. You can’t do that if you have no idea what "point B" is. Your ultimate goal will dictate the strategy behind your cadence. If you’re trying to do something like increase traffic to your blog, you can stand to lose more subscribers than you would if you were trying to court a group of sales leads into scheduling demos.

If you’re sending emails purely for the sake of sending emails, your cadence is going to be aimless and haphazard. And you’ll waste a lot of time and resources on email campaigns that go nowhere.

2. Try to understand each customer’s mindset.

The whole point of having an email cadence is to hone in on messaging that’s going to resonate most with a specific customer at a given point in time. That means one-size-fits-all, "throw everything at everyone," impersonal emails won’t cut it. You need to send your recipients something relevant to who they are as a customer. That often means understanding where they are in their buyer’s journey .

The buyer’s journey is the process buyers go through to become aware of, evaluate, and ultimately decide to purchase a new product or service. It’s divided into three stages: Awareness, Consideration, and Decision.

You can’t expect to target buyers in all three of those stages with the same message and have it immediately register with them, across the board. Different stages — and engagement levels within those stages — warrant different messages.

Additionally, through the wonders of automation , coordinating this kind of strategy is possible. Several kinds of email and marketing automation software allow you to set up the proper infrastructure to tailor email content and timing to suit different leads’ behavior and interests.

3. Personalize when you can.

Think back on all the targeted emails companies have sent you over the years. How inclined have you been to click through ones addressed to "valued customer," or "to whom it may concern?" I don’t think it’s outrageous to assume the answer is "not often."

Why would your customers be any different? A successful cadence relies on your leads clicking through your emails and progressing through their buyer’s journey. If you’re sending impersonal mass-email blasts, crossing your fingers, and hoping for the best, your prospects may wind up suspended in buyer’s limbo.

Fortunately, there’s a variety of email software that allows you to personalize your subject lines and email content to cater to specific leads.

4. Don’t be too shy.

When planning an email cadence, you shouldn’t err too much on the side of "I don’t want to bother you." It’s easy to get anxiety about losing leads by coming off as obnoxious or intrusive, but you have to understand there’s a difference between being pushy and being professionally persistent.

If you’re not consistently sending out emails, you’re missing out on sales opportunities. A big part of email marketing is keeping your prospects and customers engaged. If a lead only gets an email from you once every two months, you might become an afterthought.

Email cadences are a matter of strategically striking while the iron’s hot. You can’t do that if you’re too reluctant to strike at all.

5. Don’t be too aggressive.

Even though you shouldn’t be too passive, you don’t want to be overly aggressive. There’s a movie from the 80's called Say Anything . It has an iconic scene where the main character stands outside his love interest’s window and serenades her by blaring a song called "In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel from a boombox he’s holding over his head. She swoons over it, and they ride off into the sunset together on a lawnmower ( … for some reason).

It’s romantic and compelling. But, if he did that twice a day, every day — playing similar, anthemic 80's rock songs on her front lawn — she’d be over it pretty quickly. He’d have to take his lawnmower and Peter Gabriel cassettes somewhere else.

That’s essentially what sending emails too frequently in your cadence is like. If your leads are receiving obtrusive, daily reminders and promotions from you, they’ll unsubscribe from your mailing list.

6. Hone in on the right frequency for your business.

There’s no magic figure when it comes to email frequency. It’s going to vary from business to business. It may take some time to get the right feel for how often you should be sending your emails.

Studying your industry averages for email frequency can provide a solid place to start. A prominent fashion brand routinely sending out new promotions and coupons probably isn’t going to have the same email frequency as a midsize B2B SaaS company looking to set meetings with decision-makers.

Email frequency isn’t an exact science. It’s probably going to take some trial-and-error before you find one that best fits both your business and customers’ interests.

7. Give your subscribers autonomy.

Always give your subscribers the option to control their own email frequency. Giving them this kind of autonomy can keep them from unsubscribing from your mailing list outright if your email frequency seems like a bit too much for them. Include a link to allow them to update their email preferences as they see fit at the end of your emails.

Customers don’t always approach email frequencies in absolutes. Even if they’re overwhelmed by how many emails you’re sending them, they still might want to keep hearing from you. Give them the freedom to pump the brakes. If they don’t have the flexibility to do that, they’ll probably just cut you off.

You should always be putting the customer first. Their personal interests take precedence over what you might believe to be your preferred email cadence.

Finding your ideal email cadence might not happen with your first series of automated emails. Still, there are certain actions you can take to take to put yourself in the best position to find the one that works best for your business.

Your main priority should always be your prospects and customers’ interests. Try to understand where they’re coming from, where they stand in terms of buying your product or service, and what they might want out of you and your business, and cater your email cadence around that.

How to Repost on Instagram: 4 Ways to Reshare Content From Other Users

Sat, 08 Feb 2020 03:01:00 GMT

Most social media feeds are almost distractingly busy -- full of photos, videos, and text updates from friends and brands you follow. Instagram is different -- you can only look at one post at a time.

And while Instagram's simple, clean interface makes to easy to focus on users' beautiful photography and interesting videos, it also leaves something to be desired: the ability to easily repost other users' content.

But fear not: for every problem, the internet has afforded a solution. We tested out four different ways to repost content on Instagram in a few simple steps. All of these methods are free, but some require you to download an app from the iOS App Store or Google Play first.

Disclaimer: Pursuant to Instagram's Terms of Use , you must first reach out to the Instagram user whose content you want to reproduce and obtain written permission to do so. You can do this by commenting on the image and asking, or by sending them an Instagram Direct Message, which can be accessed by tapping the paper airplane icon in the upper right-hand corner of the app.

How to Repost on Instagram

To repost someone else's Instagram post, you first have to obtain that person's permission to re-use their content. Then, you can use an external app such as Repost for Instagram, Instarepost, or DownloadGram. You can also take a screenshot of the photo with your mobile device.

Using Repost for Instagram

1. Download Repost for Instagram.

Download Repost for Instagram for either iOS or Android . Both devices are compatible with this app, which integrates directly with Instagram so you can share content from other Instagram users from your mobile device.

2. Identify a photo or video to repost.

Open your Instagram app and find a photo or video you'd like to repost from your own Instagram account. Tap your chosen photo from the original poster's photo gallery to see its full view, as shown below.

(Psst -- do you follow HubSpot on Instagram ?)

3. Copy the post's share URL to your clipboard.

Once you're on the photo's or video's landing page, tap the "..." icon in the upper-righthand corner of the post. Then, tap "Copy Share URL" (the button will look the same on Android devices).

4. Open Repost for Instagram.

Once the photo is copied to your phone's clipboard, open Repost for Instagram. The post you copied will automatically be on the app's homepage, as shown below.

Tap the arrow on the righthand side of the post. There, you can edit how you want the repost icon to appear on Instagram.

Tap "Repost." Then, tap "Copy to Instagram," where you can add a filter and edit the post.

5. Edit the post's caption and share your repost.

Tap "Next." If you want to include the original post's caption, tap the caption field and press "Paste," where the original caption will appear with a citation that credits the original poster with your reposted photo.

When you're ready to share the post, tap "Share" as you would a regular Instagram post. Here's how the post appears on your Instagram profile:

Using InstaRepost

1. Download InstaRepost.

Download InstaRepost for iOS or Android devices to share content from other Instagram users from your own Instagram account via your mobile device.

2. Give InstaRepost access to your Instagram account.

Open InstaRepost, log in using your Instagram credentials, and authorize it to access photos, friends, and similar content associated with your Instagram account.

3. Use InstaRepost to look up the original poster's username.

InstaRepost will only show you a small selection from your Instagram feed. If you know what post you're looking for, tap the magnifying glass icon on the bottom toolbar of the InstaRepost app to access the Explore tab. Enter the username of the person whose photo you want to repost.

4. Save the photo to your phone's camera roll.

Once you've found a post you want to reshare, tap the arrow in the lower righthand corner. Then, tap "Repost," then "Repost" again. This will first save the photo your mobile device's native camera roll, where you can retrieve it in the Instagram app.

Navigate to your Instagram app and tap "Library." You'll see the post saved to your phone's camera roll. Tap the photo to pull it into Instagram.

5. Add a filter and a citation, and share your repost.

Add a filter and edit the post as you would any other. Then, select "Next" and tap the caption field to paste the original caption. The repost won't automatically include a citation, so we suggest adding one by typing "@ + [username]" to credit the content's original poster. Then, press "Share."

Here's how the post appears on your Instagram profile:

Using DownloadGram

DownloadGram lets Instagram users download high-resolution copies of Instagram photos and videos to repost from their own accounts. Luckily, there isn't an app you need to download to repost using this process. Here's how to do it:

1. Open Instagram and find a photo or video to repost.

Open your Instagram app and find the post you want to repost. Tap the "..." icon in the upper righthand corner of the post and click "Copy Share URL" (this button will be the same for both iOS and Android mobile devices).

2. Paste the post's share URL into DownloadGram.

Open your mobile internet browser and navigate to DownloadGram -- or simply, downloadgram.com. Paste the URL into the text box that appears on the website's homepage. Then, tap "Download."

Tap the green "Download Image" button that appears further down DownloadGram's homepage.

3. Download the post.

You'll be directed to a new webpage with the content ready to download. Tap the download icon -- the box with an upward-facing arrow, as shown below -- then tap "Save image."

4. Open Instagram and find the photo or video in your camera roll.

Return to your Instagram app. The image will be saved to your phone's native camera roll, so edit it as you would any other Instagram post.

5. Add a caption and share your repost.

The repost won't include a citation, so we suggest adding one by typing "@ + [username]" to credit the original poster with the photo or video. Then, press "Share." Here's how the post appears on your Instagram profile:

Taking a Screenshot

This method doesn't require any or other websites to repost on Instagram. It's worth nothing that this method only works for reposting photos, not videos. Here's how to do it:

Find a photo on Instagram you'd like to repost, and take a screenshot with your phone.

Tap the new post button in the bottom-center of your Instagram screen. Resize the photo so it's properly cropped in the Instagram photo editor.

Edit and filter the post like you would any other Instagram post. Keep in mind that your phone will take a screenshot of everything on your screen, not just the photo you want to repost. So, be prepared to crop the sides of the screenshot to capture just the image you want to share with your followers.

The repost won't include a citation, so we suggest adding one by typing "@ + [username]" to credit the original poster with the photo you're reposting. Then, press "Share." Here's how the post appears on your Instagram profile:

Now that you've learned how to repost on Instagram, you can diversify your profile with content sourced from friends, family, and brands. Use the methods above -- being sure to cite the source of the original post -- to quickly and easily reshare your favorite content.

Looking for more ideas for sourcing and creating Instagram content for your brand? Download our free guide to using Instagram for business here.

15 Ads That Prove Nostalgia Is a Powerful Marketing Tactic

Fri, 07 Feb 2020 21:45:00 GMT

Nostalgia marketing is the advertising equivalent of comfort food.

In a time when most marketing focuses heavily on the future, it transports us back to a simpler place where our current problems don't matter and the hustle and bustle of modernity just melts away. Instead of anticipating the next great thing, nostalgia marketing urges us to focus on the things we already know are great.

We know at a gut level that nostalgia gives our lives a feeling of meaning and continuity , but you may be surprised to learn it can also make us looser with our wallets. A study published in the Journal of Consumer Research found that nostalgic feelings made participants more willing to spend money on consumer goods and services.

It would appear that advertisers have caught on. Over the past five years, nostalgic ads have been popping up left and right -- with millennials as their main target.

Although these ads are getting more common, marketers have known that millennials would be a nostalgia-fueled generation for some time now.

Even in 2015, when many millennials were still young adults, nostalgia was a hot topic in publications like Digiday.

"Millennials are coming of age in an age of economic turmoil -- a difficult job market," Cassandra McIntosh, a senior insights analyst at Exponential , told Digiday . "Therefore, they end up romanticizing simpler times much more -- even those times they weren’t around for."

To give you inspiration for your own nostalgic campaigns, we selected 15 examples of advertisements that use nostalgia marketing. Watch them and see if you get the telltale bittersweet pangs associated with nostalgic feelings .

Examples of Nostalgic Ads

1. Motorola Razr

In the early 2000s, prior to smartphones, one of Motorola's most popular cellphones was a tiny, flat flip phone called the Razr. Despite its number-based keyboard and a small screen, people loved it for it's design and simplicity .

In 2019, Motorola gained buzz when it re-introduced a new and improved Razr which featured a folding touchscreen when opened.

In the commercial announcement, you see an old-school Razr lifting off of a table and flying through the air as its old layers peel off to reveal a new design. The phone then opens to reveal the Android-like touch screen.

2. Nintendo

Many children of the '80s and '90s remember playing Nintendo-based video games with their siblings. But, for the children growing up with siblings, many also remember the sad feelings related to growing apart or drifting away from a relative. This commercial highlights both of those memories by telling the story of two Nintendo-loving brothers who grow apart, argue as teenagers, and then happily reunite as adults to play the new Nintendo Switch together.

This commercial not only reminds people of what it was like to grow up with siblings, but it also reminds you of the great fun you had playing video games as a child. Then, because the brothers connect and chat virtually as the play Switch games at the end, it shows how Nintendo's technology has evolved to connect old friends and relatives all around the world.

3. Australia Tourism Board

Instead of promoting a traditional ad that simply showed off Australia's most beautiful destinations, Australia decided to disguise a tourism ad as a star-studded trailer for a fictional reboot to the '80s film, Crocodile Dundee .

As those who watched the original Dundee series get excited by clips from the film, starring Chris Hemsworth and Jason Sudeikis, its revealed that Hemsworth tricked Sudeikis into a tourism ad. Despite the trickery, Hemsworth and Sudeikis still both agree that their trip to Australia was still the best vacation they'd ever taken.

This was a clever way to embrace the television and movie reboot trend of 2018 and 2019, while still highlighting the best Australia has to offer for tourism. Because it features actors who are popular in the present day, it's also hilarious for both people who followed the Dundee films or either of the main characters in the fake reboot.

4. Spotify

In 2016, music-streaming service Spotify unveiled a new spokesperson -- er, spokes- dragon -- in a 30-second ad produced by Wieden + Kennedy New York .

Falkor and his boy companion Atreyu (now a heavily bearded 44-year-old man) are both characters from the beloved 1984 fantasy film The NeverEnding Story . W+K even got the original actors to reprise their roles (Noah Hathaway as Atreyu and Alan Oppenheimer as the voice of Falkor).

The pair appear just as the film left them over 20 years ago: gliding through the clouds while the movie's dramatic theme song plays in the background. "I can't believe people still listen to this song!" Atreyu exclaims. His dragon agrees, they share a laugh, and the two speed off into a grainy, '80s quality CG sky.

5. Freia

The tagline of Freia, a Norweigan chocolate company, is "Et lite stykke Norge" (A little piece of Norway). This spot for the company produced by SMFB Oslo fully encapsulates the sentiment in a simple, joyful way.

The plot follows a Norweigan expat in New York navigating a hectic life as a fashion stylist. When he returns home to his apartment one evening, he finds a half-eaten bar of Freia chocolate in his otherwise empty fridge. After just one bite, he's inspired to hop on a plane back to Norway to visit his father and soak up the majestic landscape of his homeland. The ad ends with the stylist discovering a modest hair salon for sale in what is presumably his hometown.

The message is clear: A taste of Freia chocolate is inherently connected to Norway, no matter where in the world you may be.

6. Adobe

Bob Ross -- the beloved '80s painting guru who passed away in 1995 -- experienced an unexpected resurgence in popularity in 2016. After Netflix added his classic TV show , The Joy of Painting , to its streaming lineup, Ross became a trending topic on Instagram . Adobe took notice, and decided to pay homage to the late painter in a series of tutorial videos promoting their new Adobe Photoshop Sketch for the iPad Pro.

Authenticity was central to this nostalgic campaign. Adobe and agency Lekker Media collaborated with Bob Ross Inc. to make sure every detail was accurate, right down to the brand of clothing Ross wore on his show. Children's book illustrator Chad Cameron, who plays Ross in the series, channels the artist's relaxed, unpretentious demeanor perfectly.

"Bob's wish was to inspire as many people as possible to be creative and to share it with others," Joan Kowalski, media director at Bob Ross Inc., told Adweek . "Adobe's 'Joy of Sketching' series reminds us that a company as big as Adobe shares in that hope."

7. Oikos

Although it originally aired from 1987-1995, Full House has become a nostalgic childhood symbol to multiple generations thanks to syndication. But before Netflix revived the show with a 2016 reboot , Dannon reunited a few of the show's stars in an ad for Oikos, the company's line of Greek yogurts.

John Stamos is joined by his former cast members Bob Saget and Dave Coulier in this Y&R Vinizius -produced spot. The trio doesn't explicitly reprise their Full House roles, but the dynamic is undeniably reminiscent of their days on the sitcom.

8. Nike

In 1973, Billie Jean King won a tennis match against male player Bobby Riggs, which was coined "The Battle of the Sexes." The historic tennis game was the first time a female tennis player was matched against a male.

In and before the late 1950s , men were seen as superior athletes and breadwinners in society. Prior to the tennis match with King, who was only 25, even Riggs said that he could beat a woman at his age of 55 .

King's tennis match win proved Riggs wrong . It also proved that men and women could compete equally on the tennis field and in other sports. On a bigger scale, it further empowered women, who were often stereotyped as wives, homemakers, or secretaries at the time. With King's win, it became harder to ignore that gender stereotypes were false and that women could win and even lead amongst men.

During the match, King wore an iconic pair of blue Adidas tennis shoes . Years later, to celebrate the 45th anniversary of King's win, Adidas launched a limited edition line of BJK shoes with the female tennis legend's face and initials on each pair.

To announce the shoe line, Adidas launched a series of simple commercials showing Billie Jean King spray-painting piles of shoes blue. Here's an example of one of the ads:

To further promote the line, Adidas also had booths at the U.S. Open tennis match where fans could bring any brand of shoes and have an artist paint them blue with Adidas' special BJK logo.

According to Adidas, the overall campaign led to a 20% boost in tennis shoe sales . And, now that the campaign is over, people are auctioning off these limited edition shoes on eBay for upwards of $1,000 .

9. Tesco

Nothing screams nostalgia like old home movies. In this extended holiday ad from British grocery chain Tesco, we watch a family grow and age over the years through the lens of their Christmas home videos. Set to a poignant theme, the ad is intended to stir up fond holiday memories for viewers.

"We wanted to show what a real Christmas is all about -- not a perfect, airbrushed one -- but the ones we recognize from our own lives," David Wood, Tesco's U.K. marketing director, told Adweek . The ad was produced by Wieden + Kennedy, London .

10. Microsoft

Although Microsoft's Internet Explorer is no more , this 2013 spot for the web browser earned viral recognition and a Webby Award nomination .

"You might not remember us," the ad's narrator begins, "but we met in the '90s." The commercial goes on to highlight all things '90s -- fanny packs, Tamagotchi , bowl haircuts -- even the Oregon Trail PC game makes an appearance.

Column Five Media , the creative agency behind the ad, set out to create a nostalgia-driven viral ad that would reintroduce Internet Explorer to '90s kids. "The idea of a brand like Internet Explorer being forward-thinking enough to make such a story-focused, Gen Y-centered commercial was pretty newsworthy," the agency wrote in a behind-the-scenes blog post . "Focusing that story on '90s nostalgia, which we knew was popular with Gen Y and not yet fully realized in video form, is what made [the ad] shareworthy."

11. Chili's

Chili's ads are usually characterized by close-up shots of glistening hamburgers, sizzling bacon, and french fries still glowing with fryer oil. So this 2016 ad produced by Boston-based agency Hill Holliday was a departure from the casual dining chain's typical go-to formula.

The commercial depicts the Chili's origin story through a series of retro vignettes. We see the laid-back founders playing ring toss, lounging on the hood of their car, and -- of course -- flipping classic Chili's burgers in their first restaurant. The ad taps into traditional Americana -- a form of nostalgia for small town American life, middle class values, and neighborhood restaurants where everyone knows your name.

12. Apple

Apple regularly features celebrities in their advertising, but they made a notably nostalgic casting decision for this iPhone 6s spot. Everyone's favorite sweet-toothed Muppet, Cookie Monster, might have switched to a more balanced diet , but he appears whipping up a batch of his favorite chocolate chip cookies in this ad.

TBWA/Media Arts Lab is the agency behind the ad, and they even released a series of "bloopers" featuring the beloved childhood character.

13. Target

The nostalgic force is strong in this Target video promoting Star Wars: The Force Awakens merchandise. As part of a larger campaign to encourage fans to share their Star Wars memories online, Deutsch LA produced this two-minute compilation of Star Wars fans' home movies.

In the video, young fans dressed as little Princess Leias, Luke Skywalkers, and Han Solos brandish lightsabers and give their best Chewbacca impressions, all while the classic Star Wars theme plays in the background. The result is an endearing campaign that's sure to resonate with longtime fans and new converts alike.

14. Bacardi

For their 150th anniversary back in 2012, Bacardi released a series of print and television ads showcasing the brand's party-starting heritage. The trip down memory lane was intended to give the company a shot of authenticity, reminding consumers that Bacardi has stood the test of time.

The goal according to Leo Premutico , co-founder of WPP agency Johannes Leonardo , the agency behind the ad, was "to depict a moment in time that lives in history" and offer "an eye to what’s next, an exciting future."

15. McDonald's

When McDonald's removed antibiotics and artificial preservatives from their chicken this year, they wanted an ad campaign that not only informed consumers about these changes, but also tapped into nostalgia surrounding their famous nuggets.

"There's an undeniable level of nostalgia tied to the McDonald's brand and its food," Britt Nolan, Leo Burnett USA 's chief creative officer, told Adweek . "We set out to capture that relationship in a sincere, simple way that today's parents can relate to and feel good about sharing with their own kids."

How to Nail Nostalgia

The key to nailing nostalgia is to understand what motivates your audiences, how they were raised, and where their deepest interests lie. To do this, do a little research or develop buyer persona's that grew up in certain generations to learn what makes them think.

To learn more about building and analyzing your buyer persona, check out this helpful guide . For more great advertising inspiration, here's a roster of 2019 Clio Gold-winning ads .

Editor's Note: This blog post was originally published in September 2016, but was updated for comprehensiveness and freshness in February 2020.

How Small Business Internet Marketing Can Be Effective in 2020

Thu, 06 Feb 2020 23:33:34 GMT

What are the small business internet marketing techniques you can use to make your efforts most effective in 2020? Find out in this guide.

Congrats on starting up and holding down your small business! Working a business on any level can be a challenge that others may run from, but you had the guts to take control of your own destiny and make things happen.

That being said, one of the hardest aspects of running a small business is trying to make it grow. The market can seem like a very saturated playing field, and if you don't play your cards right you could be well behind the pack struggling to get the next customer.

It doesn't have to be that way, though - not when you can utilize small business internet marketing. As a small business owner, one of the most crucial marketing aspects you could ever consider is online marketing. This article will tell you not only why you should consider using internet marketing, but also has a few techniques you can use to turn the online world on its head. Keep reading to learn more!

Why Should I Focus on Small Business Internet Marketing?
Simply put, it is the easily and most cost efficient way for your business to advertise and gather a strong audience of potential clients.

As it stands, offline marketing options are too costly and risky for you to try to use. Television ads are extremely expensive, and with your startup status the crowd won't be easily inclined to shop your wares. Using the radio used to be good option, but you're only advertising through one venue when there are plenty of others that potential clients use.

The internet is the best option for you because the majority of people today use the internet. In fact, the internet is used now more than ever before, meaning you're bound to have the highest chance of reaching the most clients through there.

It also helps that online advertising tends to be cheaper pound for pound that almost any other form of marketing available, so you'll save money while still spreading the word.

How Small Business Marketing Can Still Be Effective
Small business marketing can be effective on a number of levels, the biggest being that you have a global outreach. The internet is known as the World Wide Web for a reason - you can reach anyone around the globe with your site. This amount of exposure allows more potential customers to see you than any other form of marketing.

Online marketing also allows you to build up strong customer relationships. Unlike most other forms of marketing, the internet allows you to stay in touch with your clients in real time, so you can take care of any needs that may arise and help them build trust in your services.

When you look at how online marketing can save you money, broaden your reach, and strengthen the trust of your customer base, it only makes sense to invest in the marketing over the internet. Make sure to place some of your funds online and watch your business grow.

For Your Digital Marketing Needs
Now that you know the importance of small business internet marketing, you'll need to know where to go to get starting on your online advertising needs. Thankfully we're the right ones for the job.

At FTI Management, our goal is to make sure your digital marketing needs are not only met, but are at the highest level possible. Our SEO, social media, and web design abilities are the best in the league, and we can help you with anything you might need.

Give us a call or send us a message to let us know how we can help your small business. We look forward to seeing your business succeed!

How to Market A Product to Wow Customers

Thu, 06 Feb 2020 09:00:00 GMT

Product launches are an exciting time for marketers.

Unveiling to the world the new campaign you've created just for that specific launch can be a relief.

Let's say you've developed a great product, know your target audience, and could tell anyone you know about it because you know it so well. The only thing left to do is to figure out how to market it.

This can be challenging for a few reasons. Maybe this is your first launch ever, and you're completely lost about how to bring marketing messages to email inboxes or social media profiles.

Alternatively, maybe you're no stranger to product launches, but this product, in particular, is becoming more difficult to promote.

You most likely know the basics of marketing a product: know your audience, execute a social media campaign. Here are a few more ideas to get the ball rolling.

1. Experiment with messaging

If you plan to release a series of products under your brand, don't be afraid to play around with names. Let's reference all of the streaming services that are coming out. A lot are extensions of the brand name, but they still have relevance within and among the brand.

Disney+ , HBO GO , even YouTube TV . All of these services stuck to their brand and it worked for them. However, NBC's service, Peacock, is a little bit different.

The name sticks out. It's not just an extension of the network, but a call to the rainbow peacock in the brand's logo. This idea, while interesting, is highly experimental and still has brand relevance.

While playing with names can be a risk, it makes you stick out among the competition among a saturated market. Think about how you can differentiate your social media usage so it's specific to your launch, or if you can create content offers that directly support your campaign .

2. Stick within your industry

Naturally, businesses that get bigger expand their range of products and services. For instance, a beauty company that starts off selling lipstick on Instagram, after growth, can start selling products for the entire face.

Similarly, a marketing company that starts out selling one product, like an automated email service, could eventually expand into then releasing automated marketing software across multiple fronts.

When releasing a product, think about future product stacks. What will that look like? Sticking within your industry is most likely ideal, so you don't end up with a launch similar to Life Savers Soda , an idea that was too far from Life Savers' original candy brand to work.

3. Tell a story

One of the sure-fire ways to market a product successfully is to tell a story. Stories get the emotional side of consumers, and, when done successfully, can be something they relate to.

When you think of the last time you felt something while seeing an ad, you can probably instantly recall what you felt and what ad it was. Stories, like the famous Coke commercial, make consumers remember your brand, as well.

For SMBs, adding a story to your product could help possible leads understand what your product is, especially if it's a new take on an existing stack of products.

4. Deliver a realistic promise

Your release is centered around accomplishing a list of goals, right? Customers want to be delighted if you display how your product solves their problem in an accurate.

Simply put, if you promise something in marketing that isn't true to size, it's best to not go in a different direction.

Think of the concept of DLCs (downloadable content) in video games. If a video game's marketing highlighted all of the features that are only available through an extra purchase of downloadable content, that's not being realistic or accurate with a marketing message.

Similarly, don't market things that aren't yet created or approved. A brand's reputation is dependent on the product and conveying this in a way that speaks to customers accurately is essential to a positive campaign.

5. Take the leap of faith

Even though something like Life Savers Soda didn't work out for the brand, they did what other candy manufacturers wouldn't. Taking that leap of faith can be a good thing. Your brand exists because there was something missing in the market, tell that story.

Additionally, for inspiration, take this blog post from Ahrefs, " 13 Things That Only Ahrefs Can Do. "

The title of the blog post is not only eye-catching but a great move by Ahrefs to use a blog post as a promotional piece for their service. In marketing messaging, highlight how you're different. Launch campaigns for a new product are a huge moment to come out of the gate as something new and exciting.

Now that you have an idea of how to market products, maybe those are a bit niche or the first rollout for your brand. But let's talk about how to market new products that are either an extension or a different approach to a current stack.

HubSpot recently released a version of the Marketing Hub service for Enterprise customers , or customers that are a bit bigger than an SMB and find those services to be a little limiting.

Because HubSpot has other versions of the Marketing Hub like Pro, the product marketing team had to figure out a launch that kept HubSpot's brand in mission intact but also appealed to Enterprise customers. Ari Plaut, Product Manager for HubSpot's Enterprise launch, explained how that was accomplished.

1. Think of the customer

When you're marketing a new product in a line of others, think of the customer. How the positive reception has fueled the launch and how you plan to improve the customer experience.

"Put your customer and partners first," Plaut said. "In today's over-crowded marketplace, your customers trust each other more than they trust your brand."

Take a look at the language of the description of the MHE homepage, and how it keeps customers in mind.

Keeping the consumers in mind, using customer-centric language will strengthen the integrity of the launch and remind prospective leads why they should pay attention. It also helps when marketing to a different target audience, like HubSpot.

2. Create a case study

Another way to market a new product is to leverage your resources. Create a case study and use that to tell the story of a satisfied customer.

Customer stories or product demos do the talking for you. If I'm looking to buy a new laptop for work, I'm going to ask colleagues for their opinion. I'd rather hear how a product works from a partner to envision how it works for me in reality.

Plaut said, "We worked with our partner to create an amazing case study. It focused on the impact Marketing Hub Enterprise had on the customer."

To do this, think about the praises you've gotten from customers and invite them to participate to a case study for your new product. Repeat, loyal customers are more willing to help out and also provide enough knowledge of the product to give helpful feedback that'll fuel a lead's decision.

3. Highlight your good side

You want to look good, right?

When promoting a new product, show yourself off. If you've won any awards or have come across praise of your service that sticks out (or could connect with your audience on a personal level), show why others should pay attention.

When talking about highlighting accolades to fuel a launch, Plaut told me, "We highlighted G2 awards in our content, which is based solely on user reviews."

Because Enterprise is a product focused on Enterprise customers, highlighting awards won on that level puts HubSpot's reputation before its service. Plaut said, "We're highlighting our high NPS in all our content — our customers are happy, and we're proud of it."

4. Include successful customers

In the same wheelhouse as putting customers and partners first, here is another way to market while being customer-obsessed: by spotlighting high-profile customers you may have.

Maybe they're influencers with a large social media following or a podcast that gave you a shout-out. Customers that would support what you're launching are ideal to spotlight here.

If you're adding a product fit for customers that have a specific need for it, pointing to them and explaining why those customers trust you put out a more trusted reputation.

Said Plaut, "We're including logos of our most successful customers in all our assets," because they help tell the story of your product as much as visual charts and demos do.

Thinking about product launches requires all hands on deck, no matter how large your marketing team is. Thinking about diverse perspectives and what customers want to see can help you frame your campaign so it's helpful.

What educational content can you provide, how can you delight customers with what you're doing? Also think about your existing resources and how they can work for your new product because sometimes, great campaigns come from a product review.

How to Market A Product to Wow Customers

Thu, 06 Feb 2020 09:00:00 GMT

Product launches are an exciting time for marketers.

Unveiling to the world the new campaign you've created just for that specific launch can be a relief.

This can be challenging for a few reasons. Maybe this is your first launch ever, and you're completely lost about how to bring marketing messages to email inboxes or social media profiles.

Alternatively, maybe you're no stranger to product launches, but this product, in particular, is becoming more difficult to promote.

You most likely know the basics of marketing a product: know your audience, execute a social media campaign. Here are a few more ideas to get the ball rolling.

1. Experiment with messaging

Disney+ , HBO GO , even YouTube TV . All of these services stuck to their brand and it worked for them. However, NBC's service, Peacock, is a little bit different.

2. Stick within your industry

Similarly, a marketing company that starts out selling one product, like an automated email service, could eventually expand into then releasing automated marketing software across multiple fronts.

3. Tell a story

One of the sure-fire ways to market a product successfully is to tell a story. Stories get the emotional side of consumers, and, when done successfully, can be something they relate to.

For SMBs, adding a story to your product could help possible leads understand what your product is, especially if it's a new take on an existing stack of products.

4. Deliver a realistic promise

Your release is centered around accomplishing a list of goals, right? Customers want to be delighted if you display how your product solves their problem in an accurate.

Simply put, if you promise something in marketing that isn't true to size, it's best to not go in a different direction.

5. Take the leap of faith

Additionally, for inspiration, take this blog post from Ahrefs, " 13 Things That Only Ahrefs Can Do. "

HubSpot recently released a version of the Marketing Hub service for Enterprise customers , or customers that are a bit bigger than an SMB and find those services to be a little limiting.

1. Think of the customer

When you're marketing a new product in a line of others, think of the customer. How the positive reception has fueled the launch and how you plan to improve the customer experience.

"Put your customer and partners first," Plaut said. "In today's over-crowded marketplace, your customers trust each other more than they trust your brand."

Take a look at the language of the description of the MHE homepage, and how it keeps customers in mind.

2. Create a case study

Another way to market a new product is to leverage your resources. Create a case study and use that to tell the story of a satisfied customer.

Plaut said, "We worked with our partner to create an amazing case study. It focused on the impact Marketing Hub Enterprise had on the customer."

3. Highlight your good side

You want to look good, right?

When talking about highlighting accolades to fuel a launch, Plaut told me, "We highlighted G2 awards in our content, which is based solely on user reviews."

4. Include successful customers

In the same wheelhouse as putting customers and partners first, here is another way to market while being customer-obsessed: by spotlighting high-profile customers you may have.

Maybe they're influencers with a large social media following or a podcast that gave you a shout-out. Customers that would support what you're launching are ideal to spotlight here.

If you're adding a product fit for customers that have a specific need for it, pointing to them and explaining why those customers trust you put out a more trusted reputation.

Said Plaut, "We're including logos of our most successful customers in all our assets," because they help tell the story of your product as much as visual charts and demos do.

Paid Social Media: Worth The Investment?

Wed, 05 Feb 2020 09:00:00 GMT

Rick and Morty is a popular adult cartoon that airs on Adult Swim, reaching 2.3 million viewers on average. Recently, chip brand Pringles worked with the TV show to produce a commercial that runs on social media channels. In 24 hours, I've seen their ad on Twitter four times already:

If you've seen Rick and Morty , you might be thinking — Why Pringles?

Well, of those Rick and Morty viewers, about 1.9 million are adults, ages 18-34 . And, of Twitter's users, 44% of them are adults , ages 18-24.

If Pringles wants to reach a demographic within this range to promote their product, a Rick and Morty -themed advertisement via Twitter seems like a good place to start.

Ultimately, paid social media helps with targeting audiences, and driving sales.

Every social media channel is different. Twitter offers short-form content, Instagram focuses heavily on visual-based content, Facebook has its own marketplace, and LinkedIn is the home of networking professionals.

As such, paid social media on each platform differs, and should, depending on the campaign and audience.

Here, we're going to explore some quick strategies that will help you decide how to use paid social to the benefit of your brand.

Pringles and Rick and Morty might seem like an unlikely partnership, but it was a decision that came from months of planning and execution, with help in no small part from the social media channels chosen to run the commercial.

Having a paid social media strategy can save a budget that might not be as expansive as a global potato chip brand, so we've gathered the important things to know about using various social platforms for paid ads.

Facebook

When advertising on Facebook, it's a good idea to use Facebook Targeted Ads . This feature is run on a bidding system — advertisers bid on a number of ads based on their target audience. Then, that bid will be put into a lottery for a chance to be picked to run.

Other than the lottery, Facebook Ads lets you show ads to your customers based on their behavior. This is helpful because you can keep advertising to your existing Facebook customers based on what Facebook tells you about their use of the app.

Using Facebook Ads helps you build new leads and generate brand awareness. The analytics Facebook gives you opens the door for experimentation — try using different ad formats and see what your audience engages with most. It might be different than other social strategies.

For more information about Facebook Ads, check out our checklist that gives you everything you need to know before setting them up.

Twitter

As a consumer, Twitter paid ads sneak up on me. I barely know I'm looking at a sponsored tweet because they look so similar to regular tweets. As a marketer, this is fantastic news; it means more eyes on your ads because they're not as blatant as ads on other social channels.

Why Twitter Ads? Well, Twitter reports that 41% of users purchase a product after seeing an ad within a month, and when using their Ad software, you can target your ad to a specific demographic..

Twitter provides ad settings based on your budget —like how frequent your ad will be seen (Pringles paid attention to this), and the ad type to run. Twitter has a few different types of ads for you to choose based on your goals. Take a look at this post to learn more about the different Twitter ad types , as well as how to start using them today.

Instagram

60% of people discover new products on Instagram , and it probably isn't a bad idea to look into advertising to the 200 million accounts that visit at least one Instagram Business profile each day . Business profiles on Instagram mean you can set up ecommerce and run ads from your Instagram account.

Since Facebook owns Instagram, if you run ads on both platforms, they're managed in one place (on Facebook), so campaigns can be run and analyzed concurrently.

It's a good idea to look into Instagram Ads because, while the platform is ripe with exposure possibilities, Instagram Ads are against the changes of the app's algorithm. So when the algorithm changes and some posts might not show up on user's feeds, ads always will.

Using Instagram Ads, you can choose your budget, which is tied to the length of the ad run. It's like filling up a gas tank — You get the amount of gas you pay for, and on Instagram, your ad runs for as long as you pay for.

With so many different visual styles running on Instagram, there are different ways to leverage paid social media, such as Image or Video. Take a look at this post a rundown on those ad types and their exact ratios , we can help you out there.

On LinkedIn, millions of professionals have found a wealth of professional connections, their dream job, or both. The platform lets you reach thousands of people in your industry. Fortunately, as a marketer, ads let you do the same..

There are 630 million professionals on LinkedIn, with 63 million in decision-making positions , like business purchase decisions. This is a B2B advertiser's dream come true. With the potential to reach 60 million decision-makers on the most popular social platform for lead generation , it's good to consider LinkedIn as an optimal platform for advertising. .

LinkedIn's targeted ads let you type in keywords and select audiences by category. So, if you're posting a job for a certain role, LinkedIn can help you find that audience.

Source

You can also play around with ad formats on LinkedIn to find which one is most effective. To find out more about the ad types on LinkedIn —such as sponsored, message, text, and dynamic — check out our post about creating an awesome LinkedIn Ad campaign .

Pringles is just one company using market research and target audiences to make paid social media decisions that work extremely well. It's easy to think ad spend is just for the big brands, but making informed purchase decisions benefits every business.

The truth is, social media channels are making advertising functional for businesses of small size, as well. It's just about learning how to use them (and which ones are best for your audience) to benefit your brand and get the highest ROI.

21 Brand Style Guide Examples for Visual Inspiration

Wed, 05 Feb 2020 04:54:00 GMT

When it comes to building a memorable brand, it's all about consistency.

When you're shopping for your favorite cereal or coffee at the grocery store, you want to be able to spot it from a mile away.

The best brands stick in our brains because their presence is defined by the repetition of the same logo, fonts, colors, and images.

Once we see them enough, they become instantly recognizable, bringing us a clear sense of reliability and security.

Developing a consistent brand starts with creating a brand style guide. These branding rule books help graphic designers, marketers, web developers, community managers, and even product packaging departments all stay on the same page, and present a unified vision of the brand to the public.

We've compiled a list of some awesome brand style guides to use as inspiration for your next branding project or website redesign. Check them out below.

What are brand guidelines?

Brand guidelines, also known as a brand style guide, govern the composition, design, and general look-and-feel of a company's branding. Brand guidelines can dictate the content of a logo, blog, website, advertisement, and similar marketing collateral.

Picture the most recognizable brands you can think of. Chances are, you've learned to recognize them because of the consistency across the messaging -- written or visual -- these brands broadcast. The same brand colors are reflected across them. The language sounds familiar. It's all very organized and, while not rigid, it's cohesive.

Here are a few types of guidelines you'd find in a brand style guide and which parts of a brand they can influence.

Mission Statement

By reputation, you might think a mission statement is in its own category of importance to a business. And it is. But your business's mission statement is also compass for your brand style guide. A mission statement ensures every piece of content you create for your brand is working toward the same goal -- and, ideally, strives to solve the same problem for your customer.

Your mission statement can guide your:

Buyer Persona

By definition, a buyer persona is a fictional representation of your ideal customer. It can include details related to your customer's age, gender, job title, and professional challenges. For this reason, your buyer persona should also appear in your brand style guide. Your buyer persona is your target audience, and therefore stipulates for whom your brand publishes content.

Your buyer persona can guide your:

Color Palette

A color palette is a group of colors a company uses to design its brand, and it guides every piece of visual content the brand creates. Your color palette can be as simple or as elaborate as you want, so long as your brand doesn't deviate from the colors you choose to include.

Color palettes that feature multiple colors often dedicate specific colors to specific types of marketing content. While the first two colors of your color palette might govern your logo, for example, the next two colors might support your website and blog design. Another two or three colors might be the basis for all your printed branding material.

No matter what colors you use for your color palette, make sure you identify their HEX or RGB color codes. These codes consist of numbers and letters to help you recall the exact shade, brightness, contrast, and hue you want associated with your brand, so your colors don't gradually drift in appearance as you create new content. You can find color codes using most photo-editing or design software that comes standard on your computer. Learn more about finding and committing to color codes in this blog post .

Your color palette can guide your:

Editorial Style Guide

Nowadays, an editorial style guide is the bread and butter of an authoritative brand. This component of your brand style guide can have strong implications for your PR team, as well as the people who write articles, scripts, blog posts, and website copy for your company.

An editorial style guide's main job is to commit to an editorial stylebook (such as Associated Press or Chicago ), how to phrase certain products, topics the brand can and cannot write about, and even other companies the brand can and cannot mention. However, a brand's editorial style guide can also go into much deeper detail about your buyer persona: what they like to read about, where they read it, their general reading level, etc.

Your editorial style guide can guide your:

Typography

Typography is another visual element of your brand style guide, but it isn't just the font you use in your company logo. Typographic guidelines can support your blog design -- which font you publish articles in -- the links and copy on your website, and even a tagline to go with your company logo.

As you can see, the purpose of the brand style guide is to form and maintain all of the various elements of a company that, when combined, spell out the entire brand as it's recognized.

Intrigued? Check out 21 of the best ones we could find.

Style Guide Examples

1. Medium

Medium emphasizes both typography and color in its brand style guide. Its guide also include details related to the company's "Purpose" and "Product Principles."